Another chunk of the Sixers’ deteriorating recent past is about to crumble.

According to the Associated Press, the 76ers will move Thaddeus Young to Minnesota in the final reverberation of a three-way deal also involving Cleveland.

The swirl would leave the Cavaliers with Kevin Love, the Timberwolves with Andrew Wiggins, Young and a first-round draft choice, and the Sixers with Anthony Bennett, the 6-8 combo forward from UNLV was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2013 draft.

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The activity could not occur, however, before Aug. 23, or 30 days from when Wiggins signed his rookie contract with the Cavaliers.

When Young leaves, there would be nothing left of the Sixers core that reached the Eastern Conference semifinals in 2012 and included Young, Andre Iguodala, Elton Brand, Evan Turner, Jrue Holiday, Spencer Hawes and Lou Williams. Instead, their stated and transparent endeavor to grow younger while arranging for better salary-cap space will cost them a valuable power forward.

Young, still just 26 yet the longest-tenured Sixer, averaged 17.9 points and 6.0 rebounds last season, his seventh with the franchise after being the 12th player selected overall in the 2007 draft. He has averaged 13.7 points and 5.5 rebounds in his career.

While understanding the Sixers’ desire to thoroughly rebuild, Young nicely remained professional last season while hinting that he would be more comfortable with a contender. Since he held a $9.72 million player option, the Sixers would have risked losing him after the 2015-2016 season.

“It’s a lot of money to leave on the table,” he said last March. “At the end of the day, I’m not a guy that spends a lot of money. It’s definitely a card that can be played. That depends on many different factors. Obviously, I want to win. Obviously, I want to be winning on a championship team. At the end of the day, like I said, it’s a card that could be played.

“Right now, I’m not even thinking about playing that card. I’m just thinking about finishing this season off and getting into the summer and enjoying my family and getting back next year and being ready.”

When the Sixers shed Hawes, Turner and Lavoy Allen at the last trade deadline, leaving them basically unable to compete with dignity at an NBA level, Young did what he could, playing some of the best basketball of his career. Also, he nightly resisted any urge to complain about the situation, a signal that he had some sort of assurance that he soon would be granted a new professional direction.

That direction, the reports say, will be toward Minnesota, which also had a problem, for Love, too, was eligible to leave after this season. So aware, the Timberwolves dropped the 25-year-old into trade waters, and are about to fish out Wiggins, the No. 1 pick in the last draft, along with Bennett. Bennett would then be flipped to the Sixers for Young, with each franchise strengthening its current cause.

In Young, the Wolves would acquire an immediate starter to replace Love, along with the superstar potential of Wiggins. In Bennett, the Sixers would receive another young player with potential and, more, one whose rookie contract will expire at the end of the coming season. At that point, they will have given Bennett a year’s audition and could elect to re-enlist him or to let him go, freeing more cap room, eventually, for an accomplished star.

The Cavs, who would lose the No. 1 overall picks in each of the last two drafts when the trades are completed, will not have that problem. Having already added free agent LeBron James, Love would give them a third superstar, along with Kyrie Irving.

Love, the 6-foot-10 three-time All-Star, averaged 26.1 points and 12.2 rebounds last season, his sixth in the NBA. He had publicly longed to join a contender, which he almost certainly will, joining James and Irving in Cleveland.

In Bennett, the Sixers would have a Canadian-born in-between forward. With the NBA trending toward bigger four-spot players, Bennett is relatively short at 6-8. His game, though, suggests strength at the position. He almost certainly would replace Young in Brett Brown’s starting lineup.

The Sixers could also wind up with an additional draft choice from Minnesota, according to one ESPN report.

Shoulder surgery reportedly diminishing his ability to begin the season in shape, Bennett played 52 games as a rookie, then was hit by knee soreness late in the season. He averaged 12.8 minutes, 4.2 points and 3.0 rebounds. Slimmer, he played to strong reviews for the Cavs in the NBA’s Las Vegas summer league.

With Bennett, the Sixers will continue to construct a highly valued, young front line, including the No. 3 overall choice in the last draft, Joel Embiid, and the No. 6 pick in the 2013 draft, Nerlens Noel. With Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams in the backcourt, the haze is beginning to clear from the Sixers’ future.

As for its most recent past, that’s becoming harder to see.

“This is definitely a situation that, really, nobody wants to take on,” Young said during the Sixers’ radical reconstruction. “Hey, sometimes this is how the cards are dealt to you, and this is the situation that was dealt to me.”